"Cubans are the last hope for many..."

I want to direct your attention to an article once again from the BBCNews website, as you know that's where I get my most widespread news from one. This article "Cuba doctors popular in quake-stricken Java" is about Cuban doctors staying on in Java long after other humanitarian and relief aid persons from other countries have left.




But this is only part of it. Cuban doctors are providing free medical aid to many countries all over the world and we hear nothing of it. The article states that "Cuba currently has about 20,000 doctors working in 68 countries across three continents..." There's hardly any print of it in the newspapers and definitely none of it on television - especially definitely not in American media - the medium through which millions depend on their news and necessary information. But whenever they drop off a case of medicine or a box of bandaids we hear about it for weeks on end. Don't get me wrong - their help, aid and support is still in great measure, goes a very long way and is very much appreciated. But I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about the media's lack of coverage of such amaible and humantarian works by Cuban doctors.

I think it's really wonderful the work that the Cuban doctors are doing in providing FREE medical treatment to victims who otherwise would simply die off without such assistance. While American and other foreign drug companies, like Merck and others, charge to provide their drugs which would ease the sufferings of many and drastically cut down on the loss of lives, Fidel Castro has made it a point to provide the sick, poor and dying with the best medical treatment and to provide it at a cost they can all afford - free. It seems almost that they (Cuban doctors) are on stand-by, ready to be deployed to hurting areas - from hurricane victims to earthquake-shattered regions. When the rest of the world has pulled out and gone back home the Cubans are indeed "the last hope for many..."

They even offered and were prepared to help Katrina victims in New Orleans....but their help was turned down. [read the article from MSNBC - Katrina aid from Cuba? No thanks, says U.S.] Why? Why would you turn down free medical treatment for your people?

In a future posting I will present the findings of some research as to the extent of the Cuban medical aid provided to countries around the world and will post it here. I invite you to read and if you are a member of one of those medical teams please forward me some information as to your operations - it would be greatly appreciated.

How I got Screwed by PayPal

I recently heard on Diggnation how this Russian guy lost around $1200 or $2100 on the sale of a MacBook with the 'aid' of Paypal. I say 'aid' because it was the action of Paypal that caused the loss.





I had a horrible experience with Paypal myself some time ago. I was auctioning off this software which I listed on eBay. When the auction ended and the sale done, having been a Paypal member for a while, I offcourse continued to use and rely on their services in fully realizing this transaction.

The money was received - around $83.00 I think it was - and I packaged and shipped off the software. The buyer was a guy in the U.S. and I will not mention his eBay name only because I do not remember it, but no doubt he has a ton of negative ratings by now. But I will refer to him as "mr. cheap-software-buyer" because he did get the software for very, very cheap.

Anyways, at the time I was in the C'bbean and so I mailed off the package through the local post-office: regular mail. Now anyone who has ever mailed off anything via regular mail knows there is no tracking number. We all know the only time you get a tracking number is when you ship via an express courier like DHL or FedEx - definitely not regular mail. The package was not big enough for that - and besides it would cost me too much to ship it that way. Hey I was trying to make a profit here!

I made a near full withdrawal from my a/c a few days after I shipped off the item to recoup for the packaging and shipping cost and also because I already had other stuff to get. Soon afterwards I get an email from Paypay saying that a dispute has been filed against me by "mr. cheap-software-buyer" and I need to confirm shipment of the package. Now I understood his concern when a day or two went by and he did not see the package. I emailed him and told him it would take at least 5 days to get to him - it takes a bit longer when it's shipped from outside of the America.

Paypal sent me a page/link to resolve/rectify this dispute but the stupid page only has 3 options and I had to check one - one of which was proving a tracking number. That was it! There was no area or place where I could insert a comment or explanation where I could tell them 'look, the item was shipped regular mail and I did not get a tracking number because no post office provides a tracking number for items shipped via regular mail.' How dumb is this dispute resolve page !!! No area to insert an explanation! Anyways, I sent them several emails spanning months explaining this very thing to them. I never received any responses other than the same stupid email notification thing asking me to rectify and provide confirmation.

After a while Paypal debited my Paypal account and refunded mr. cheap-software-buyer. By the time they did I am almost sure that the asshole got the software and never bothered to cancel the dispute. Why would he? He got some very expensive software and he got all his money back.

Now remember I told you earlier that I had taken nearly all my money out of my Paypal account to do some other stuff. With Paypal's debit to the account meant that account now had a negative balance because there was not enough in there to cover their debit/refund to the customer. So now it meant that I owed Paypal and also was out of my software. Now I'm on the losing end. I kept of sending them emails explaining the situation to them - none of which were ever responded to...and then bump trying to call them - wasn't happening. They eventually suspended my account and kept sending me emails and letters now saying that I owe them. I refused to pay because I did mail the item off to the S.O.B. who no doubt is enjoying it right now - I hope it brings a plague on your PC and causes it a horrible crash, even though it will not happen because it's Linux software.

To You Paypal I say...

[This was not fair at all. Where's my restitution? I should be able to file a complaint for non-payment of a shipped and received good. Shouldn't I? Not with Paypal, baby.]

Could this get any worse?

The bastards at Paypal then submitted this information to a collection agency. I refused to pay. This then showed up on my credit report and offcourse you know that messes up the credit score and all sorts of woes accompany this. It's gonna stay there for 5 years because I'm not paying this crap. Hopefully within that time they would crash and go out of business. I'm going to see a "going-out-of-business-sale' in their windows - you know, like the ones you see in Chicago, Boston and some New York City stores.

I can't tell you how upset I was that they submitted the info. to some collection agency and then the shit showed up on my credit report. Especially after I tried so hard to explain and rectify the situation. Their system was just not set up to fully rosolve disputes and as a result I got screwd. This now seems to be a legal issue as it filtered over and ruined my credit. They never provided adequate dispute resolution.

So now there's only direct payments for me. And I won't even get started on eBay. I'm looking forward to Google's payment service - that's what I'll be using. Let's hope it's easier on dispute and resolution claims as no doubt there will be guys trying to get 'free software.' Looking forward to their working out better than paypal.

Post Post:
Since I've written this I got an email or two from people who have also had bad experiences with Paypal and some with eBay. If you have some stories of your own please post it here as a comment or email it to me and I will put it on for you.

Mac OS X - Leopard: Initial Thoughts

This is just a short - somethings that I noticed with Leopard.

First thing is my concern with the iChat feature that allows someone to browse your computer and where they can copy and alter files. This is potentially a security problem.

Another thing is with Spaces. This is not a problem, but more so an observation. I've been using Linux for a while and one feature that's native there and which I love is the desktops feature. This feature allows you to set up multiple desktops in a single session where you can have programs running in each but sectioned off from the others. You can group your applications in each window according to what you are working with.

The Spaces feature in Leopard seems to resemble this somewhat. Apple makes it look better because of their smoother, nicer looking GUI...but the functionality remains the same as Desktops for Linux.

Time Machine:
First off, this name is not entirely accurate as a Time Machine is one that can take you back to the past and also send you into the future. Time Machine on the Mac only sends you back into the past and back to the present. Wouldn't it be cool if they could send us to the furutre to retrieve those files we are going to download later and bring it to the present!

But anyway, I'm not sure if this feature is activated by default, but this functionality saves every bit of history on your computer. That includes those files you deleted and maybe don't want anyone to know you had. You know the ones that I'm talking about - that porn flick you downloaded, and those photos you got off the internet from that chat with sexylucious, bianca123 or georgewellhung. As was said "we back up Everything...we can restore Everything..."

One cool thing would be for Apple to have this feature customizable where you can select specific folders you want to have backed up...and not the entire system.

Where's My iPod Video?!

No one seems to be mentioning the fact that Steve Jobs failed to introduce the new Video iPod. I've been waiting for months now for the release of this model and was kinda expecting Apple to make the announcement at the WWDC 2006. But it never came. We were also expecting an upgrade to the iPod Nano. That too didn't happen. In fact I don't think any mention was made of the iPod. Where's my iPod Video?

There were other disappointments also. There was no Apple iPhone which was highly rumoured to be released. How good are those rumoured websites anyways? Lately nothing they forsee or rumour to come true does.

We all heard of talks with Apple's Steve Jobs and motion picture execs on possible deals for Apple to sell movies on I.T.M. So the rumours about the true video iPod was very credible. So I am disappointed that it was not released and now wonder how long will I have to wait. Where's my iPod Video? How long will I have to wait Steve? I told lots of people that we would be getting a true video iPod. "Don't make a fool out of me man...don't make a fool out of me!"

I still wait...

WWDC 2006 - Not Fully Satisfying

Still a little giddy and googly-eyed (not to be confused or connected with google at all) from the keynote presentation at WWDC 2006 I thought I'd try to write.

I checked out Steve Jobs' keynote presentation at WWDC 2006 and I was left both happy and saddened at the same time. Even though this was the largest conference thus far, with 4200 in attendance, I can't help feel that many of those left not wholey satisfied. For one thing there was the absense of that trademark 'one more thing' surprise from Steve. Everything was great, but I could have used a little more cow-bell.

But what left me disappointed from a consumer stand point was the fact that there was no upgrade or release of a new iPod. I was fully expecting to see Steve pull out a true video iPod and stun us all - but that didn't happen. Many of the rumours which were surfacing before WWDC fell through. These include the Apple Phone or t he ability to call telephones using iChat.

Here are some of the most exciting things to come out of the conference: "Let The Photocopiers Begin":
Prince drops no Apple Cinema Displays. The 20" (now $699 down from $799, 23" (now $999 down from $1299) and 30" (now $1999 down from $2499) prices have been slashed by $100, $300 and $500 respectively - that's great.

The preview of the new OS X Leopard was wonderful with some amazing features as Time Machine, Spaces and cool new features to Spotlight, iChat and Mail. This is friggin' amazing. One concern that I have is the feature that allows someone you're chatting to peruse your desktop and negotiate files. This could be a potential security problem as it is prove a hole for some malicious activity. However, I'm defintely looking forward to Leopard.
Steve said that some of the novel and most amazing features of Leopard will not be revealed yet because as we know the photocopiers are running...and with due reason.

New Pro line replacing the Power macs with quad core processors. I'm not going to get into the technical details (you can view them here), but it's friggin' hott.

You can check out reviews of the keynote presentation from anywhere on the web, just do a google search. But you can check out the video stream at Apple's website

So what does this mean for Apple's stock price: I say 'not much'. The price is not going to shoot up because there was no amazing product released or one more surprise to make investors rush to the buy; neither was the news disappointing to make them sell. There will be moderate and consistent trading of the shares till we are Wowed or disastified....until then, for those of you who do have shares, I say trade on, for those of you who don't - what are you waiting for?

Fidel Temporarily Hands Over Power

I just found out that Fidel Castro has undergone intestinal surgery because of "an acute intestinal crisis with persistent bleeding." This was suffered due to a hectic schedule during an Argentine visit just weeks before he celebrates his 80th birthday.

In a statement made and read by his personal secretary, fidel has temporarily transferred power over to his brother Raul Castro. Read the statement here: Statement


Raul Castro

Read the BBCNews article here: Castro Steps Aside After Surgery

I saw a news clip where they show Cubans in Miami dancing and being merry in the streets. As I would normally feel support for the ousting of any tyrrant I cannot share in this celebration one bit. I feel that the media has and is only showing just one aspect of life in Cuba and mediates/tells the story of just one set of Cubans - those are unhappy with the government. By so doing we who watch the news get just one idea and image developed of the country. In their vile attempt to show and nuture the mentality of a weakened Castro, even the photos they choose to use to show the leader, are ones where his prowess and strength are not showing. Media manipulation that's what it is; in their attempt, however succesfully with many people, to brainwash us.



Miami Celebration.



However, Fidel is in a hospital in Cuba recovering from this operation. Already there are speculations about his death. But that has not been confirmed; and as there is little reason to suspect such we should dispell with this thought altogether.

This is the very first time that Fidel has ever handed over power since he came into power in 1959. As it seems the government system will continue under the temporary leadership of Raul. I know that the US is already planning something inspite of the played down remarks which have come out of Washington. For now we wait and see what happens.